EUGENE, Ore. -- After 85 years of classes, University of Oregon’s Straub Hall is getting a renovation. Crews started construction on the year-long project this summer.

The Psychology and Linguistic Departments that call Straub Hall home will return to the building next year, and classes will start about 6 months after.

Darin Dehle is the director of capital construction for the project and said it was time for an upgrade.

“The building has been kind of a pain for maintenance folks on campus … and they're very excited to see it be re-done so they don't have to live through the systems failing constantly,” said Dehle.

Dehle’s crews are working to upgrade the building while keeping the historical feel alive.

“Keeping that fabric is important to the campus, so the exterior skins of the historic building we try to maintain as much as possible when renovating and maintaining the interior spaces that have historic character,” Dehle said.

Though a lot of the original elements of the building are going to stay the same, they are going to make some big changes, including a planned lecture hall that can seat more than 500 students.

The construction at Straub paves the way for another project on the university's largest classroom inside Columbia Hall.

“One of the benefits is we'll be able to move those classes into this classroom and renovate Columbia Hall, finally,” Dehle said.